Ski Program
      |
A great week of off piste skiing in the legendary freeride mecca of La Grave. Some people wonder why anyone would want to go on a ski holiday to a place with just one long lift, no pistes at all and a huge mountain side covered in cliffs, chutes and trees. Sounds good to me! Throughout the week we ski a huge variety of the best runs on the mountain, including ski touring days and visits to nearby resorts to catch the best possible snow. See 2007 Reports: powder days, glacier skiing, reasons to go skinning, Queyras. Course Base We base ourselves at the legendary off piste mecca of La Grave, in the southern French Alps. It is an unspoilt, traditional mountain village and about as far removed as you can get from a big resort. The skiing however, is second to none.
Sample Itinerary Subject to weather and snow conditions, we follow the general format below: Day 0 Sun Day 1 Mon Days 2-5 Tue-Fri Off Piste skiing, big descents and day tours in and around La Grave - . Typical runs + other resorts visited may include: During the week often visit neighbouring resorts to get the best snow. Food and Accommodation We run all of our courses on a guiding & instruction only basis to allow you maximum flexibility with accommodation options. Our recommended hotel in La Grave is the friendly and comfortable Hotel Edelweiss** run by British/Dutch couple, Robin and Marlon - who we will happily put you in touch with if you'd like to reserve a room (or the hotel can help arrange a twin room with a fellow course member if you like). You are however free to make other accomodation arrangements if you choose (La Grave also has a number of other hotels, gites and rental appartments available at reasonable prices - see the La Grave website for more details). Travel Full travel details are provided with your joining instructions. La Grave is most easily reached by a low cost flight to Grenoble (Ryanair run flights from E Midlands, Stanstead, Liverpool and Dublin, Easyjet run flights from Bristol, Gatwick & Luton, BA fly to Grenoble from Gatwick (often cheaper than Easyjet!) and Thomsonfly have flights from Bournmouth, Coventry and Gatwick). Then take a coach transfer to La Grave (or Bourg D'Oisans, from where a taxi transfer can be arranged if needed). If you choose to hire a car, then driving times to La Grave are about 1.5hrs from Grenoble, 2.5hrs from Lyon or Chambery and up to 4hrs from Geneva. Fitness Off piste skiing requires good levels of fitness and stamina (see ski fitness levels 2-3) - so we advise you to prepare well in advance with regular training and ideally some skiing. If we go touring you can also expect to be climbing for 1-2 hours some days to get the best runs, so you need to have good levels of cardiovascular fitness too.
Skiing Ability You need to be a strong off piste skier (see: ski ability levels 3-4) able to ski confidently and in control of slopes of up to 35-40dg. Although some ski touring experience is handy, good skiers can pick these skills up with extra coaching at the start of the week. Equipment We will supply you with a full kit list. You are responsible for bringing personal clothing, a rucsac and ski mountaineering skis, boots and kit (local hire is available). We are delighted to be working on this course with Back Country UK, who provide excellent service and advice as a leading retailer of ski mountaineering equipment in the UK. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sample Runs :
|